Midtown Lunch

Every Friday we go south of the ML boundaries in search of a delicious lunch. Sometimes it’s Murray Hill south or the Flatiron District, sometimes Gramercy and everything in between- but we just like to call it Flatiron Lunch.

Continuing the month of healthy eating with Flatiron Lunch, we have Sweetgreen, an import from the D.C. area. When they opened, I notified a friend or two in the area to check them out, and a friend, that used to live in D.C., made sure I knew how much she loves their caesar salad. The New York Times even picked up their story and their passion for ingredients.

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As I began to reminisce about Melt Shop from earlier this month, and just before the snow started and the temperature dropped to single digits (obviously), I found myself craving some grilled cheese and tomato soup once again. Sure, I could schlep up to 50th and indulge in their Fried Chicken grilled cheese, but that leaves me no time to get back to my desk and watch YouTube videos for the remainder of my lunch. Is that a trade-off I’m willing to make? Fortunately, it wasn’t necessary. After a quick Google search, I was reminded that ‘wichcraft had opened their Grilled Cheese & Soup stand in Bryant Park – only a block away. Was this going to fulfill both of my stringent lunch requirements – grilled cheese with tomato soup and YouTube videos?

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We here at Midtown Lunch are excited to present an opportunity for you readers to get your hands on early tickets for Village Voice’s annual food-fest Choice Eats. Starting today at noon, you can use code LUNCH to get General Admission or VIP tickets a week before they go on sale to the public (and then inevitably sell out). The event is happening on Tuesday night March 25 at 7pm at Basketball City (Pier 36) downtown.  The participating restaurants have not been announced yet, but if the previous years are any indication, there’s going to be exciting vendors that you can’t easily sample in Midtown at lunch time. Click here to purchase your early bird tickets.

When Brian first reviewed the Steel Cart back in May, he enjoyed their glorified grilled cheese sandwiches. But for a self-described brunch cart, their brunch offerings weren’t very suited to lunch. But that’s all changed now, because they’ve started serving grits.

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Just when you thought the Midtown ramen scene couldn’t get any better… HinoMaru Ramen, the Astoria ramenya that was included in Michelin’s Bib Gourmand list in 2012, has opened Lucky Cat Ramen on 53rd btw. 2+3rd in the old Social Eatz location. The menu is completely different than HinoMaru, so there’s no sign of the HinuMaru ramen or the fireball meatballs that Sietsema loves so much, but there is a tonkotsu style ramen, a shoyu ramen, and a tonkotsu/shoyu hybrid, as well as four other styles that I think you’d be hard pressed to find in any other ramen shop in Midtown.

Check out the menu after the jump…

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Last week, we announced that you voted Bagel Express as having the best bagels in Midtown in 2013, so it seems a shame that while we’ve reviewed their rotisserie chicken, we’ve never actually reviewed their bagels. Let’s fix that.

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Every Friday we go south of the ML boundaries in search of a delicious lunch. Sometimes it’s Murray Hill south or the Flatiron District, sometimes Gramercy and everything in between- but we just like to call it Flatiron Lunch.

For those of you still observing a New Year’s resolutions to eat healthier, Flatiron Lunch is here for you. Through the end of the month, we will try to highlight healthier options, or at least “healthier “ options. For those of you with no plans to eat more sensibly, you might be surprised by how genuinely tasty these options are – health aside.

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Back in April we reported that Naya Express, the Lebanese fast casual place on 3rd Ave, would be opening a new location on 56th btw. 5+6th Ave.  August was the estimated opening date, but that came and went… because… well… it always does.  We just got word that they are just waiting for the gas to be connected and should be opening in the next few weeks.  Huzzah!

Naya Express, 54 West 56th Street (btw. 5+6th)

There are so many reasons why we probably shouldn’t write about The Little Beet on this site. First and foremost, the restaurant is named after a vegetable! Also, most things on the menu are quite a few dollars above the $10 ML price point. And on first glance, it looks like this is just a glorified (and more expensive) Dig Inn or Chop’t.

Yet this bright and lively storefront on West 50th Street recently opened to a lot of hype and the lines are already out the door. Not to mention the chef, Franklin Becker, is both well-respected (from Abe & Arthur) and well-recognized from television (Top Chef Masters). So if anybody could make healthy food taste good, this would be the guy, right? We figured it was worth checking out.

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